


Spirit of Revolution

by DarkGreiga



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: FanFiction.Net, Gen, NaNoWriMo 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27893020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkGreiga/pseuds/DarkGreiga
Summary: Revolution AU. Zaphias has always been a thriving kingdom, but since the past ten years, the kingdom hasn't been as good as it looks on the outside. With discrimination and a large social gap growing rapidly, a group of people aren't going to stand still and do nothing about it. (Story for NaNoWriMo 2020)
Kudos: 1





	1. Daily Life of the Outsiders

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back with another story for the fandom and it's an AU story revolving around a revolution. I wrote this for the NaNoWriMo last month and I'll try to keep updating the story as I go through the chapters for editing.

It was just another day of struggle in the lower quarter of Zaphias. The thriving kingdom had lost count of the years it had grown since it was founded, but ten years had passed since the previous king’s mysterious passing. The king suddenly disappeared from the public eye and was announced to have passed away due to a mysterious illness.

The news had shook the whole kingdom as the previous king had never publicly announced that he was sick. The king’s death was left a mystery even to the royal family as both his son and niece were never told more than what was known to the public ears. After his passing, the throne had fallen to the hands of his most trusted military commander instead of the king’s own son, seeing as he was still too young to lead a kingdom.

The prosperity of all Zaphias was reduced, leaving the people of Zaphias’ lower quarter, who were branded as ‘outsiders’, to be locked away from the chance of living their old lives. Rumors had spread that those outsiders were the ones who had assassinated the previous king in an attempt to take over Zaphias for their own. The rumors were slowly turned into facts which the native Zaphias people swallowed without any more thoughts.

To them, the fewer mouths the kingdom was obliged to feed, the more wealth and luxury they could enjoy for themselves. The land was rightfully theirs and they felt that they had the right to refuse sharing with the outsiders who had killed their king. The only use for ‘outsiders’ would be to work hard and pay their earnings to feed them, in exchange for the slum area referred to as the lower quarter, where they had to live and work in.

It was the kind of mindset which made a young and promising knight turn his heels around and left the royal knights, refusing to serve the people who had thrown away the ones who were powerless. The knights and the kingdom he served no longer had the same vision of justice as he had, which drove him to keep things in order using his own methods instead.

The methods which represented the fight against the oppression the natives had given the outsiders.

* * *

A young man dressed in black robe stepped aside and avoided the splashing water from the fountain in the middle of Zaphiasʼ lower quarter. He had a smirk on his face as he put his hands on his hips, standing proudly while facing two wet knights he had pushed into the fountain moments ago.

“Y-Y-Yuri L-Lowell! Y-Youʼll pay for t-this!” one of the knights, who was the tallest of the two knights, stood up abruptly, making his face guard fall and cover his face. “H-Hindering official tax collectors in their duties is a crime!”

Yuri raised a brow in amusement, watching as the two knights struggled to get out of the fountain, only to trip and fall back into the water. He folded his arms and looked at an old man on the other side of the fountain, who was picking up some apples to be put back into his cart. When the old man saw Yuri staring at him, he gave the young man a smile and a grateful bow.

He gave him a slight wave in return, looking down at the knights casually even as he had a sword and a spear pointed at his throat, “You’re coming with us and we’ll make you plead only to have your punishment to be slightly reduced! Only for a tiny bit of reduction!”

“Oh, really?” Yuri looked amused in response to the knights’ threats and the sharp weapons in front of him. He brought his hands together and cracked his knuckles, which caused the two knights to tense up and hold their weapons closer in a threatening manner. “I guess I’ll follow you Tweedles if you can find me in the game of hide and seek.”

“Stop calling us that!” the two knights responded angrily in unison.

Yuri ignored their protests and jumped back as they thrust their weapons at him, avoiding any sort of injuries they could cause. He ignored the pairs of eyes in the area as they were in the central area of the lower quarter and stepped closer towards the unsuspecting knights. He turned to the side to avoid the sword and easily knocked away the spear with his bare hand as he turned to face them once more.

A sly grin was visible on Yuri’s face before he punched the knights on their faces, making them fall backwards and into the water once more. The loud splash had caused the people in the area to fully pay attention to the scene, just in time for Yuri to jump into the top of the fountain and towards the other side of it.

He broke into a run as the drenched knights sloppily chased him into the alleys. The layout of the alleys were familiar to him as he had been through the place countless times for similar reasons. He would constantly kick some empty barrels or boxes when the knights got a little too close to him to hinder their movements.

His run came to a stop when he found a dead end in the form of an iron fence, just as the knights were catching up to him. He took a quick glance at them before scaling the fence, ignoring the scratches from the iron wires on the top. He walked backwards as he smiled at the scene of the knights hitting their metal gloves helplessly on the iron fence.

“Come back here Yuri Lowell!” the shorter one of the knights yelled out, but the young man only stood there to enjoy the struggles he and his companion were having. “Adecor! Stay still and let me climb onto your back!”

Yuri chuckled as he watched the knights trying to climb the fence. He looked around the area as the smaller knight almost made it to the top, spotting a small pebble by his feet. He picked it up and played it for a moment while waiting for the knight to reach the iron wires. The two knights paused when they noticed the harmless-looking pebble in his hand, until he threw it and knocked the smaller knight on the head.

He tried keeping his position on his companion’s shoulders by holding onto Adecor’s helmet. The taller knight wasn’t too happy with the action as he could feel his neck being pulled out from his body.

“B-Boccos! Stop pulling my helmet!” Adecor called out to his companion as Boccos’ weight was slowly bringing both of them down to the ground.

The two knights fell with a loud clanging sound of their armors hitting the ground. Yuri looked at his handiwork in satisfaction before walking away to leave the two knights and head for the other side of the small alley.

He was greeted by the spacious square area, the place which separated the lower quarter where the outsiders like him lived from the elite area where the natives like the people of the royal blood stayed. He could see the eyes of the said natives on him, as most outsiders didn’t even have the courage to step into the border area. He ignored the extra attention he was given and planned on heading back to his own area of the kingdom, only to run into someone else he didn’t expect.

“Are you enjoying yourself by terrorizing the royal knights, Yuri?”

Yuri didn’t show a hint of guilt as the blond knight in front of him gave him a glare, which he responded with another glare of his own, “What? I’m only keeping those royal cronies from forcing taxes on people who don’t even earn enough for their daily needs.”

“Please stop giving uncouth names to my fellow knights,” the blond knight let out a sigh. “If you care about Zaphias’ people so much, why did you leave the knights in the first place?”

Again with the leaving the knights issue. He was getting tired of being asked about it every time he encountered the blond knight.

Yuri let out an annoyed sigh, “I’m not the kingdom’s lapdog, Flynn. You know me better than those clowns you’re leading.”

“Yuri!” Flynn raised his voice, which caught the attention of the few people nearby. He let out a sigh, knowing that the unnecessary attention would only disturb the order in the area. He put a hand on Yuri’s shoulder and held it tightly for a moment before releasing it, “I’m not planning on arresting a friend, so please don’t attract any unnecessary attention here.”

Yuri’s eyes followed his friend as the knight walked past him and fully turned to him once he was a few steps away, “I’m not the one who’s being loud, you know. Besides, what have you been doing with the knights all these years anyway? We’re not feeling any good changes in the lower quarter like you promised.”

Flynn had stopped in his tracks, but he didn’t turn around to face Yuri. When his friend had brought up that promise he made years before, he didn’t feel that he had the right to deny it. Even so, he was sure that his way of changing things from inside the kingdom was better than chasing away the tax collectors who were just doing their jobs. He just couldn’t understand why Yuri would be doing the illegal acts to keep things in order.

“Whatever. I’m going home,” Yuri broke the silence between them and Flynn could see his friend heading back to the lower quarter area from the corner of his eyes.

“Yuri,” It was Yuri’s turn to stop when he heard Flynn calling him. “The knights are different from five years ago when you left. If you reconsider your decision to resign, I’ll still recommend you to His Majesty to be reinstated.”

The man chuckled mockingly before he started walking again, “Nice offer, but I’ll pass.”

Flynn didn’t look back as Yuri was leaving, trying to respect his friend’s decision despite wanting him to act like a proper knight was supposed to. At least, he wanted Yuri not to go around for brawls with other knights or officials over reasons he thought to be too minor.

* * *

Yuri lazily looked up at the sky as he stood in front of an old wooden building, seeing that the sky was getting darker. He couldn’t believe that his unofficial patrol for unwanted tax collectors made him end up on the other side of the kingdom. It was expected when he saw his old friend whom he hadn’t seen in years because of their position, but he wasn’t too happy when Flynn was listening to every order of the elites he hated.

He let out a sigh as he tried putting the thoughts aside and noticed that there was something odd with his black robe. He checked the sleeves, seeing a hole which he recalled not being there when he put in on that morning. He could see some dried blood through the hole, but it was such a small wound that he didn’t feel any pain as he walked all the way back.

Yuri rolled his torn sleeve while covering the small scar and looked back at the building in front of him with a sigh.

“Damn it. Judy’s not gonna be happy with this…”

Yuri was conflicted on whether he should open the door or not, but he knew the answer to that already. He looked around the area, seeing that the darkening sky had reduced the number of activities in the lower quarter.

He put his hand on the door handle, opening the door before closing it behind him.

The moment Yuri stepped inside the building he called home for years, he slid out one of the old chairs nearby and threw himself onto it. The loud thud of him falling on top of the chair had caught the attention of another person in the room, who was standing by the sink.

“Did you have so much fun outside that you forgot to come home?” Yuriʼs tired eyes went over to the person, a blue-haired woman with pointy ears as she was washing the dishes.

“Sure, I had a really good time being chased by the Tweedles to the other side of the kingdom,” he responded sarcastically before moving his chair backwards and onto the wall, “So, what’s for dinner?”

She looked at him with a smile, though not the kind of smile that he wanted to see when he wasn’t in the mood for teasing, “You’ve more or less given up your share to the kids the moment you come home late.”

“Judy,” Yuri let out an annoyed sigh, “You didn’t even leave me some leftovers? Did those brats eat the whole food supply?”

“If they had eaten that much, you know that there are other kids who are going to complain,” Judith had finished with the dishes and dried her hands before walking over to the door on the rightmost side of the room, “Karol’s client gave us an extra loaf of bread today, so you can eat that instead if you’re hungry. It should still be on the dining table if none of the kids touched it.”

“Seriously?” Yuri’s eyes followed her as she disappeared into the other room, leaving him on his own.

His eyes went over to the long dining table in the middle of the room, dragging his chair lazily to reach the table. He removed the bowl covering the bread, only to see a small bite mark on the side of the bread. He let out a sigh, feeling annoyed that all he was left for dinner was the half-eaten bread.

It wasn’t going to make up for the lost energy from running around all day, but at least it was better than hitting the sack with an empty stomach after a strenuous workout.

* * *

A young woman with short pink hair was sitting on her study desk, which was located right under a big window. The desk was bright from the lamps hanging on each side of the window, a stark contrast to the darker area where her king-sized bed was.

The woman’s hand gently rested on the book she was reading with her eyes scanning the pages. The rustling sound of paper as she turned the pages echoed in the big bedroom as there was barely any other noises in the room. She would sometimes look up from her book and towards the window in front of her with a sad look.

For as long as she could remember, the scenery she saw on a day to day basis had never been anything other than her room. Her room was located on a high floor that the only things she could see were the objects in the sky and the lush trees below. The only people she could see were always the same every single day, asking her what she wanted to eat or simply asking for her day.

There was only one person whom she always looked forward to seeing, as he was the only one who would visit her for none of the common reasons. It was only that day the person hadn’t shown himself at her door, but she was certain that he would be coming soon.

A tea set was put on the small round table, with some smoking hot tea still inside the teapot. When the woman wasn’t looking out through her window, she would look back at the door beyond the small table. She was expecting to hear a knock on her door soon, feeling enthusiastic to hear what was happening outside her room and outside the castle doors.

A frown was visible on her face as the person she expected still hadn’t arrived and it was getting late. She returned to her book, only to close it and put it back on top of the small stack of other books on her desk. She rose from her seat to straighten her blue dress, which was starting to show wrinkles from sitting down for too long. She was heading to her closet to get changed to her sleep wear, but her spirit was lifted up the moment she heard a knock on her door.

“Lady Estellise, this is Flynn. I apologize for visiting at this hour.”

A smile returned to the woman’s face before she rushed to the door to open it and greet her guest, “Please come in, Flynn. I have prepared some tea for you, so please stay and take a short rest here.”

Flynn stepped into the room with a smile before his hand over his chest, giving her a polite bow, “Thank you very much, Lady Estellise. I shall do as you asked.”

Estellise walked at a faster pace than Flynn as they headed for the small table, sitting together for tea and some conversations.

She listened to him intently as he told her about his findings during his patrols during the day. The state of the kingdom from the outside was the news she wanted to hear the most as she was being kept away from it. While it wasn’t the most pleasant type of news, she felt that it was better to hear it from the person who was involved directly in the field.

Estellise put her cup down with a frown as she lowered her head, “That… that sounds horrible… Alexei has been taking care of our people, but how could they do such a thing…”

“It’s…” Flynn’s expression looked different in her eyes at the mention of their reigning king. He curled his hands for a moment before relaxing them once more. “I-I apologize. Please don’t mind it too much, Lady Estellise.”

She stared at him for a moment, “Please Flynn, tell me more about what happened outside. Even if Alexei is our current ruler, I’m still the princess. I want to know more about our people, but more than what is written in books.”

“I’m truly sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t have the authority to speak about it openly to you, My Lady,” Flynn bowed down apologetically before taking another sip of his tea.

Estellise was still frowning as she watched him drink his beverage. She couldn’t let go of the curiosity she had within, but she had no choice when the knight wasn’t willing to speak when it was against the rules. She had always known him to be very loyal and obedient, so she couldn’t really force him to speak about anything he wasn’t supposed to say.

There was another thing about him which made her curious and that would be his late visit. He would usually be done with his patrols before sunset and he would visit her once he had finished with his report. He didn’t look like he was injured, but his face looked more tired than usual.

“Did something else happen today?” Her curiosity got the better of her that she decided to ask, “Was there more work other than your usual patrol duties?”

Flynn gave her a smile, but a sad one, “No, it’s just… I met an old friend of mine as I was heading back from my patrols. He is the friend I have told you about a few years ago.”

“Ah…” she responded with a nod. “I believe his name was Yuri, yes? Did the two of you get into another argument?”

“W-Well…” the knight stuttered as he avoided her eyes. “Perhaps it was something as such, but I was only telling him not to hinder an official’s job to collect taxes.”

She let out a giggle, covering her mouth with her hand as she did so, “Perhaps I can imagine that you tried preventing him from getting into trouble with the tax collectors.”

“Yes,” Flynn let out a sigh. “I can understand his reason for doing the things he did, but I cannot tolerate him for breaking the law. He is not being a good example to the children of the orphanage he and his friends are running.”

“I… see…” she responded as a frown had subconsciously made its way to her face. “Perhaps… it is nice to have a friend who would look after each other…”

“Hm?” The knight looked at her in confusion, “Did you say something, Lady Estellise?”

She shook her head, “No, it was nothing too important,” she raised her head once more, “But… perhaps you care for your friend so much that you were willing to keep him from being imprisoned…”

Flynn paused for a moment before nodding with a smile, “Perhaps so… He is the one who works the most to keep the orphanage running and he is the one who trains the children in swordsmanship so they can make a living for themselves too… although in a way…”

“In a way…?”

“Yes,” the knight nodded. “He doesn’t like teaching, but the children most likely follow him when he trains. I’m only hoping that they don’t take after his bad habits…”

“He seems like an interesting person,” Estellise’s comment had gained Flynn’s attention. “When I have the permission to explore the world outside the castle, I want you to introduce him to me.”

“Eh?” Flynn was taken by surprise after hearing her suggestion that he didn’t realize that his response wasn’t too polite to a princess. “I-I apologize, but it would be best for you not to see him. He could be a bad influence to you, especially when you are one of the candidates in line for the throne.”

She saw his stern expression and after feeling that he wasn’t planning on being lenient, she sighed in defeat, “Alright, I understand…”

“Thank you,” Flynn stood up from his seat, getting a questioning look from the princess as he bowed once more to her. “If you would let me, I should be on my way. I still need to take care of some paperwork so that Yuri doesn’t need to be arrested.”

She responded with a nod, “Yes, thank you for keeping me company for even a short moment. It’s always nice to hear about what is happening outside…”

The princess’ expectant look had prompted Flynn to frown in response as well, as he was aware of what she had in mind.

“I apologize, Lady Estellise,” the knight kept his head low in a bow. “I’m afraid His Majesty had directly ordered all of the royal knights not to take you out of the castle. This is to avoid the rioters from harming the royal family.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Estellise watched the knight sadly as he was leaving her room.

She stood still as the door closed on the other side of the room, leaving her alone in her bedroom once more. She walked over to her desk, looking at the big window in front of her. It was pitch black from the darkness of the night, but the scenery wasn’t too different at noon.

She looked up at the sky, where a single bright star was shining. She put her hands together on her chest and closed her eyes while she was still facing the bright star.

“The brightest star in the sky, Brave Vesperia… I want to be able to see the world like you… to meet new people like Flynn’s friend… I want to live a life outside the castle walls…”


	2. Royal Secrets and a Runaway Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick update! I've managed to squeeze a bit of time today to edit and post this, so enjoy!

It was early in the morning, but the bustling activities could be heard from two rooms away.

The sounds of kids running on the wooden floor and their yelling had always been a daily morning routine in the orphanage. It was always the same liveliness during meal times, no matter if it was for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When there were sounds of the kids arguing, there would always be a voice of a girl to keep things in line.

The dining room went silent completely after the loud sound of the table being slammed was heard. The kids’ went over to the dining table, looking in fear at the brunette girl who was only a few years older than them.

“Eat your damn breakfast in peace or I’ll roast you with my gadgets!”

The brunette girl glared down at them with her arms folded. The group of kids who had been involved in the argument over dining seats went silent with the looks of guilt clearly visible on their faces.

“We’re sorry, Rita…” the arguing kids responded in unison.

The whole daily commotion was heard all the way in Yuri’s room as he was getting dressed. He let out a sigh as he could vaguely hear the voices of his other friends trying to keep things in order in their own ways. Ignoring the usual banter between them, he turned his attention back to the mirror in front of him, but only for a brief moment, seeing that he was at least wearing something without caring too much about looking tidy.

The clanging sound of chains were heard as his faithful canine partner was stretching his paws by his side. The young man smiled at his four-legged friend when he yawned and looked up at him.

“Ready to head out, Repede?” he asked his friend before taking his sword from beside his bed.

He gave the dog a light pet on the head before putting the blade over his shoulders and headed out from his room. He saw the usual scene of the oldest man in the house snoring by the table in the middle of the room, which was the meeting room, with his feet on the table. On the other side of the table, his young boss was staring intently at the wood statue in his hands while carefully carving it.

“Morning Karol,” Yuri’s greeting had caught the boy’s attention and prompted him to look up from his carving. “I’m going out with Repede today, so I guess he won’t be doing any errands for the guild for the day.”

Karol’s gaze was on Yuri’s hand as he held the weapon over his shoulder, “Well, I don’t have anything assigned for you or Repede today, but where are you going this early anyway?”

The young man only shrugged as he started walking towards the door leading to the dining area. He stopped with his hand already on the doorknob and turned back to Karol, “We’re just going to take a walk and hunt a few wild animals outside.”

Yuri ignored Karol’s staring and left for the dining area with Repede in tow. The smell of the food which was being fought over by the kids had caught his attention, but his hunger was easily managed when his mind was set on something else. He wanted to leave while the residents were busy with their meals, but the plan failed instantly the moment one of the kids noticed him heading for the door.

“Hey, it’s Yuri!” one of the boys on the dining table pointed out, which prompted the other kids to look at him as well. “Are you going on a job today? Are you going to slay some scary animals out there?”

Yuri let out a sigh and put a hand on the doorknob before looking at the group of now excited boys, “Yeah, something like that. Those animals are better at being sparring partners for my training.”

“And you’re not asking me to come with you two for a hunt?” a woman’s voice was heard from the small kitchen section in the room and she was looking at him while pouting. “I want to go out there and fight too…”

Yuri looked at her with a raised brow. He had known her long enough and he knew what she was thinking with the playful frown she was giving him. He released the doorknob for a moment and chuckled before facing back at her with his free hand on his hip, “You have a hunting job today, Judy. If you’re coming too then you’re going to hunt down everything that’s moving until we’re out of games for our food supply.”

“Oh? Are you saying that I’m that brutal?” Judith continued with her pouting to make him feel more guilty, but Yuri wasn’t affected by her actions as he was already used to them.

He opened the door with a laugh, “Whatever. I’m going out now.”

“Don’t cause another scene or the knights are going to barge into our guild!”

Yuri stopped for a moment as he wondered how she found out about the incident the day before, but decided to shrug it off and close the door once Repede had gone out with him.

Once he and his canine companion was out of the building, Yuri let out a sigh and looked up at the sky enthusiastically while stretching his arms. It was a bright and sunny morning to go hunting, but it wasn’t the activity which had been in his mind for the entire morning.

He turned to the side, squinting at the faded figure of a grand building in the distance. It was the castle where the royal family of Zaphias lived and the unreachable place had always sparked some curiosity within him. He wasn’t interested in the life inside, but rather, he wanted to know why the castle looked so peaceful when the kingdom, especially the lower quarter, hardly experienced anything peaceful.

Repede knew what his human friend was thinking and nudged his hand with his muzzle. The gesture had caught Yuri’s attention, making him realize that from the way he dressed, the castle guards wouldn’t let someone like him and Repede into the castle. With how he looked nothing like an important royal guest, he would have to find another to get into the castle without being noticed.

He looked around the area, where a few people of the lower quarter were setting up small temporary stalls. The lack of education and skills for most residents of the lower quarter made them end up being merchants reselling items they found. The people of his age were either left jobless drunkards or missing when they went on an act to the castle.

The mysterious disappearances of the lower quarter residents, or more commonly referred as outsiders by the knights, had Yuri interested for a while. He was waiting for a day off from his job requests at the guild, but he hadn’t thought of a plan to get into the castle. Going through windows would be an option, but he wouldn’t be able to do so when he couldn’t get himself closer to the castle itself.

“A package for His Majesty?” a man’s voice was heard nearby.

Yuri turned to the source of the voice, who was a knight on a patrol. He saw the knight pointing out directions to the man sitting in front of a caravan, handling the ropes of the horses. The size of the caravan gave him an idea and with how the people were busy with their merchandise, nobody would be paying attention to what he was going to do.

He looked at his faithful dog, but the canine had got the message without Yuri needing to say anything. He gave his furry friend a nod before they both headed for the caravan while avoiding the knight’s vision. He and Repede climbed onto the caravan without a second thought and concealed themselves among the goods stored in it.

It only took a few seconds after they boarded for the caravan to start moving once more. As they were moving, Yuri checked on Repede to see that he was well hidden under an expensive-looking carpet in front of him. The young man was hiding behind a gold statue, keeping his figure from being noticed by the caravan’s driver in the front.

Yuri would really like to count how many lower quarter residents the kingdom had to force taxes from to buy all the expensive items in the caravan. All the tax money could have been used to build better homes for the people or give them better food instead of being used to buy ridiculous and useless props. He was certain that all that money came from the taxes of the lower quarter residents, but none from the natives and especially the royal family who had more power and authority.

Bringing out their true colors for the whole public to see probably wouldn’t be enough, seeing as the law was blind to the natives’ crimes. Perhaps his visit to the castle would fix it faster than having a bunch of rioters suddenly disappearing without a trace.

* * *

Yuri could feel that the caravan he and Repede were riding on had stopped moving after a while. He cautiously approached the back end of the caravan and took a peek outside, seeing that they stopped in the middle of a garden. It was a big garden and he hadn’t seen a garden that big around the lower quarter, which led him to assume that they had arrived somewhere around the castle.

He looked back at his dog, who was just getting out from his hiding place under the carpet, with a confident smile, “Let’s go, Repede! We have a castle to break into!”

Repede responded with a bark before both of them jumped off the caravan and hid themselves in a nearby bush. Yuri scanned the area cautiously for any signs of people around and saw that they were left on their own. Once they felt that the coast was clear, they got out of the bush to take a proper look at their surroundings, finding themselves in their intended place. The castle looked big and visible from a place as far down as the lower quarter, so it wouldn’t be missed out easily.

Yuri looked up at the giant building in front of him in satisfaction, seeing that he had made it without making a scene anywhere. The peaceful situation didn’t last long however, as Repede started growling all of the sudden.

“What is it, buddy?” the young man asked cautiously and put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Yuri held his sword firmly as he stared intently at the direction Repede was looking at. It was an empty pathway leading to the castle gate, but the guards weren’t standing on their posts. If his furry friend weren’t growling, he would casually think that the knights guarding the gate weren’t taking their jobs seriously. It was very likely that the guards were still around and had noticed them, the unexpected guests.

His tense shoulders relaxed the moment he saw who the guards were as they went out of the gates. Repede had stopped his growling, but he was still watching them like a hawk.

“Seriously? They’re going to assign a job as important as guarding the gate to the Tweedles?” Yuri commented rather loudly, purposely trying to get their attention instead of being stealthy as he planned before.

His plan on drawing them in worked well enough as Adecor was the first one to notice Yuri’s presence, “It’s you again, Yuri Lowell!”

The young man smirked as the two knights started running towards his direction. He quickly backed away and started running as well with Repede following behind him. While he didn’t have plans on being chased again, he couldn’t deny how amusing it was to mess with those two every time they met.

He and Repede ran around the castle’s garden, with Yuri’s eyes constantly looking back at the grand building next to him. He had avoided doors as their way of entering the building, expecting to see a few knights on guard duty if they went through any of them. While he could easily knock the knights out cold, he wasn’t trying to make things complicated by seeing Flynn out of the royal knights.

He couldn’t understand why his friend still believed that the discriminatory system of the kingdom could change from the inside. From what he had seen for years, rules couldn’t bind the people who made them and they were only made in favor of their creators. The rules themselves had become blind to the natives, especially to those with money and power, leaving others without them to suffer under false accusations.

Riots didn’t help either, as the people who dared to stand up to them only ended up being imprisoned at best. If they were unlucky, they would disappear from their friends and family without a single clue to where they were taken or even if they were still alive. Once they started talking bad about the kingdom, their fate of never coming back had been sealed.

He would hate his friend for that reason, but he couldn’t bring himself to resent him as a person. Flynn had never bothered arresting him, even if he was purposely trying to get himself arrested to reveal the kingdom’s secrets. His friend would always find a way to bail him out with a warning, even if the rest of his knights brigade would still be chasing him around the kingdom.

Yuri pushed the thoughts away and got his focus back on the situation. He and Repede were stopped at a dead end, leaving them to be stuck between a hedge, the castle building, and a pair of rookie knights chasing them. He definitely didn’t want to get himself into a one-sided fight against them, so he looked around to see if there was some place he and Repede could safely hide in while waiting for the Tweedles to go away.

Repede barked at him before pointing his muzzle upwards, towards a big window high up on the castle wall. He saw that the protruding surface of the castle’s stone wall could make it possible for them to scale the wall, hoping that they wouldn’t be greeted by a swarm of knights the moment they stepped into the building.

“Where are you, Yuri Lowell?!”

The voice of the knight sounded close and Yuri didn’t think twice as he began scaling the castle wall. Repede followed him as well and they both picked up the pace as the sound of their footsteps were getting closer and closer. The unlocked window made it even easier for them to get in, just in time for the Tweedles to arrive at the scene.

Yuri hid behind the window while looking down at the confused knights as they were looking around the area. It took them a few moments of arguing before they left the scene, but he most likely wasn’t in the safe area just yet. He expected them to report to the other knights to hunt him down, especially when he knew how persistent they were in trying to capture him.

He took a moment to take a breather after the excitement of running around the big garden. He watched Repede as the big dog walked away from the window and smelled around the room, leading up to the door on the other side of the room. Yuri was about to follow him, but stopped to look around the room he and his partner had ended up in.

He had seen Flynn’s bed before and the king-sized bed definitely told him that he hadn’t ended up in the royal knight’s dorm. The color scheme of the room was mostly either pink or light blue, which gave him another reason that it wouldn’t belong to one of the knights. The big portrait of four people in formal outfits on one of the walls had given him a rough answer about the owner of the room.

“Royal rats,” he spat out as he glared at the portrait.

The portrait showed a well-dressed blond couple, with a young blond boy in front of the couple. A girl with pink hair was present in the portrait, posing elegantly for the portrait.

Yuri initially didn’t care much about the well-dressed family, though the presence of the pink-haired girl among a family of blonds had him wonder for a moment. He had never met any of the royal family before, but he was sure that the present ruler wasn’t in the portrait. It was something he wanted to ignore, but it could bring him to the secrets the kingdom was trying to hide all those years.

The young man looked at the door, which Repede was sitting in front of. He looked back at the portrait for another quick moment before deciding that exploring the place was a much better option. After all, he needed all the information he could find about why they were so desperate in keeping everything hidden.

* * *

Loud clanging metal sounds echoed in the hallways of the castle, prompting the young pink-haired princess to conceal herself behind one of the decorative plants in the hallways. While it was normal to see knights pacing back and forth in the castle, it was the first time she saw a whole brigade being sent out. It made her worry about the situation outside, which none of the castle residents would tell her about.

Estellise came out from her hiding place as the knights had passed by and took a peek from behind the wall to see a couple of royal knights discussing something.

“I still don’t get it why Captain Flynn chose those two clowns to be guards!” one of the knights complained. “The king is so not gonna be happy about this!”

The other knight shushed him before smacking his colleague’s helmet, “You idiot! Any louder and he’s going to make us disappear! Just go and get the intruder those two fools had lost!”

“Fine!” the first knight didn’t sound too happy as he responded while he watched his colleague leave, “Damn, if only I can get a rank higher than his…”

Estellise had listened into the conversation about the intruder, leaning forward as she did so. One of the hair clips keeping her hair in a small bun loosened and fell into the floor with a light clanging sound. She gasped in surprise as the sound echoed in the empty hallway, most likely getting the knight’s attention.

“Who’s there?!”

She quickly grabbed her fallen hair clip and got herself ready to flee from the scene, only to hear the sound of blades clashing. She returned to the area to see the knight was clashing his sword with a young man she had never seen before. Realizing that the person might have been the intruder the knights were talking about, she looked around for something she could use as a weapon to help the knight.

Estellise ran towards the nearest unlocked room, which was a knight’s room, and grabbed the first sword she could see. She returned to the area in a rush to see that the knight was already on the ground with a sword hovering on his throat.

“Tell me where your dumb king is and I’ll think about keeping you alive,” the young man told the knight darkly.

Estellise didn’t think twice about putting her life in danger when she saw the helpless knight and ran into the area. The young man noticed her coming, but still kept his sword by the knight’s throat. His shoulders tensed when he saw that she was charging at him with a sword in her hand.

The young man removed his sword from the knight’s throat and blocked the incoming blade. She skillfully twisted the sword she was wielding to try and knock his sword off his hand, but he had predicted her movement. He let the sword fall from his hand, but his other hand swiftly grabbed the blade and the two swords clashed once more.

“Not bad. Guess the kingdom has people who can actually use a sword,” he commented in a sarcastic tone.

The young man’s praise didn’t budge her as Estellise mustered all her strength to forcefully knock the blade away from his hand. She pointed the end of her sword on his throat, just like how he did it previously on the knight. He looked at her in surprise, but he didn’t look like he was threatened at all even as the sharp end of the sword was a few inches away from his throat.

“W-Why are you here?!” the knight asked as he looked at the young princess in surprise. “I-If you’re outside then His Majesty will surely…!”

The young man looked at the knight in confusion before turning to her. Her hold on the sword was firm enough in case he wanted to try and knock it out of her hands bare handedly, but her focus was broken when she heard a dog barking nearby.

“Repede!” he turned away from her as a big blue dog came into the area. The dog motioned for him to follow, earning a nod from the young man before he suddenly grabbed her wrist, “If you know the king then I’m taking you with me!”

Estellise almost dropped her sword in surprise as she wasn’t expecting him to suddenly grab and drag her along.

“P-Please wait!”

The young man definitely wasn’t planning on stopping to wait for her as he continued to forcefully pull her to come with him and follow the dog in front of them. She looked back at the knight, who looked like he was in pain as he struggled to get up, but he was soon out of sight from the distance between them. She turned back to the one who took her away, but she couldn’t easily attack him when they were both running in the hallway.

* * *

Yuri peeked from behind one of the walls, watching as a few knights were pacing back and forth to guard the area. He looked down to his canine partner as he was sniffing around the room to find another way out, before putting his attention on the young woman he had taken with him.

“So, where to?” he asked flatly. “I want to see the king and bring back his head.”

The young woman gave him a glare as she nervously stepped back, “W-Why are you after Alexei?!”

Her voice in trying to question was loud, enough for him to panic and cover her mouth.

“Not so loud!” he scolded her and looked back at the wandering knights. They didn’t look like they heard the noise she made, especially with their full face armor most likely blocking subtle sounds outside.

He kept his hand over her mouth for a moment longer as she was struggling to break free from his hold, making sure that the knights didn’t hear them. He watched as the knights walked out of their sight and released her, though she wasn’t as hostile as when they first met. She was still glaring at him, but she had put her sword away from his reach and let it hover on her side.

“Why do you want to see him so badly?” her eyes had slightly softened as she looked at at him, but she looked like she was still prepared for an assault against her.

He didn’t feel threatened as he looked between her stern face and the blade she wielded, until he recalled the portrait he saw before. Her unusual hair color was a giveaway more than the dress she was wearing, but with how secretive the royal family was, he was still unsure about her true identity. His hatred for the royals could take over any moment, though one look at her told him that she wasn’t like any other natives or royals he had come across.

Compared to the familiar cruel faces of the royals he saw as they claimed to be doing things for the sake of their people, she looked more like a naive sheltered princess.

Yuri opened his mouth to respond, but a loud but familiar voice had interrupted him.

“Yuri Lowell! Where are you hiding?!”

He ignored the surprised gasp coming from the young woman on his side as he leaned on the wall once more. He spied on the two knights who had chased him moments ago before looking down at Repede. The dog knew what his human friend had in mind and ran out from their hiding place to show himself to the knights.

Repede barked a couple of times to get their attention and ended up having weapons pointed at him, but the dog didn’t flinch as he came face-to-face with the sharp weapons. He growled at them as it was his way of challenging them, especially when the Tweedles were looking down at him.

As he pointed his spear at the canine, Boccos realized that if he was there, then the person he and his colleague wanted to capture was most likely still around. It would be a waste of time to fight the unarmed dog when they could hunt him down, but his partner didn’t look like he had the same kind of thoughts.

He nudged Adecor with the blunt end of his spear, earning himself a glare, “Hey, what was that for?!”

“Forget about the dog! Yuri Lowell must be nearby!”

The two knights turned to the direction where they believed Repede had come from, but Yuri had already fled the scene as they were too occupied with his canine partner. The two knights turned their attention back to the dog for a quick moment, only to be knocked away by his tackle. The two knights hit the ground with loud clanging sounds echoing in the hallways and Repede let his nose lead him to where his friend had headed to.

* * *

She had only wanted to sneak out of her room for the first time in years out of curiosity that day. She hadn’t expected that she would be running around the castle with a growing group of knights chasing behind her. Moreover, she hadn’t expected that she would be brought all over the castle she had been living for all of her life with the person she had only just met.

She was confident enough with her sword training to raise her sword against him as he was the intruder the knights were after, but her intention of turning him in faded when she heard his name. From all the stories Flynn had told her, the friend he had always talked about was exactly as he described him. The intruder she had been running around with was none other than Yuri, Flynn’s childhood friend.

The three of them stopped when they reached a room with paths leading to the left and right wing of the castle, with a golden statue of the current king in the middle. As she was catching her breath from running around the castle on a dress and a pair of high heels, her eyes went over to Yuri as he looked up at the statue in disgust.

“I can’t believe all the taxes were used to make this junk,” he commented and looked down towards his partner, “Should we destroy it, Repede?”

“P-Please wait a moment!” she called out and held Yuri’s arm just as he raised his sword to try and cut it down. “That’s… I… believe it was a gift from a neighboring kingdom…”

He raised a brow as he looked at her in amusement, but he lowered his sword without a word of argument even when he still looked disgusted by the statue. She didn’t want to cause more trouble for him even if she barely knew him in person, but he could be her only way of getting herself out of the castle. Perhaps it would be fine if she only asked him as an errand, though she still felt about trying to take advantage of him.

Sounds of clanging metal were drawing closer and closer to the room, coming from each of the three paths leading out of the room. Yuri and Repede backed away towards the statue, with the young man unsheathing his sword once more to try and fight them off when they got there. He would be severely outnumbered against the knights, but she didn’t want to fight the people who had kept her safe in the first place.

As the knights were getting closer, they stepped back towards the statue until they heard a clicking sound. They turned around to see that the statue had moved to open a secret passage below it, leading to a dark place they couldn’t see too clearly. The secret passage would be their only way of escaping the incoming knights, but one of the three were hesitant on entering a completely unfamiliar place.

Yuri had noticed it as well and grabbed Estellise’s wrist and looked at her sternly, “Sorry, but you’re going with me until I meet Alexei.”

“Huh?!”

Estellise didn’t have the time to deny it as he had already pulled her into the passage. Once the three of them made it into the passage, the statue moved again to cover it and stopped with another clicking sound.

The knights arrived after the intruders they were chasing disappeared out of sight, but the fact that they had lost them wasn’t the main reason for their uneasiness. A member of the royal family had also been taken by the intruder when she wasn’t even allowed outside, which would only add more weight to their mistake.

The king was definitely not going to be happy with the news his knights were going to bring him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all for the infiltration chapter! The official introduction of the guild will come soon and hopefully at the end of the week.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you guys think!


	3. Illegal Guild

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again and sorry for a little delay in the update! I was a little too tired yesterday that I decided to push back the editing to this morning.
> 
> Anyways, here's Estelle's introduction to the guild members and the first day of her being outside the castle!

It was a long walk through the smelly and dark sewer area under the kingdom, as they wandered around the area to look for an exit. Repede was leading the way as he used his nose to search for any place where the wind was blowing. A bark from the big dog gave the two humans behind him the signal that they were reaching the end of the journey in the dark. The three of them climbed up and finally met the blinding sunlight of the afternoon after spending hours in the maze of darkness.

“Finally! It’s about time that we got out of that place,” Yuri commented to himself before turning towards the female companion he had forced to come with. “By the way, I guess I haven’t asked who you are.”

Estellise stared at the young man in front of her, expecting him to say his name first to confirm that he was someone Flynn knew, “Um… isn’t it impolite for men to ask for a foreign woman’s name before introducing himself beforehand?”

“Really? Never heard of that kind of rule before,” Yuri responded casually with a shrug. “Whatever. I’m Yuri Lowell.”

She had confirmed that he was indeed the person Flynn had been telling her about and the surprise had caused her to stare at him subconsciously for a moment. She realized that he was expecting her to introduce herself after he told her his name as he was looking at her expectantly, “I-I’m sorry. My name is… Estellise Sidos Heurassein.”

“Estellise…” he tried repeating her name, but the look on his face told her that he was having difficulties in doing so. “That was a really long name.”

She knew that people would normally be upset when other people made a mockery of their name, but she couldn’t help but find herself chuckling to his comment. Her behavior had also confused him as well for the same reason, but she couldn’t help it when the person she had just met felt like a person she had known for a long time. The knight was so detailed in describing his friend that despite having met Yuri for the first time, she felt that she had already expected his reactions.

“What’s so funny anyway?” Yuri chuckled as well before looking at their surroundings, trying to figure out where they had ended up in. “Was that place some kind of an escape route for the royal family or something?”

Estellise had thought of the same thing, even though she had been in the castle for most of her life. It was the first time she had ever been outside the castle, but she had never found out the reason why she had always been kept in her room. She wanted to see the world with her own eyes and not just from the books she had read over the years. She was a candidate for the throne and she wanted to both see and learn about the people she was going to lead.

It was her chance to explore the world she was being kept away from, but she didn’t know where to start. She turned to Yuri to ask him for some ideas, but the young man had already started walking with Repede, leaving her behind.

“Y-Yuri!” the young man heard his name being called and stopped, turning to look at the slightly panicked princess with a questioning look. “U-Um… where are you going now?”

He looked annoyed as he turned to her, “I can’t get to him even if you show me the way now. There are too many knights in there to move around freely as much as I want to. I’m gonna head back for now and see if I can do something else that is amusing enough for them.”

She couldn’t deny as she had already seen it herself. It would be fine if she returned to the castle on her own even after running away to see the outside world herself. One side of her wanted to go back to show the castle residents that she was fine, but another side of her wanted to explore the world outside the castle. Knowing the fact that she had been kept in the castle for years, she probably wouldn’t get another chance to explore if she came back.

Yuri was an intruder, but he didn’t look like someone hostile like the ones most castle residents told her over the years. She trusted the knight’s judgment as they were childhood friends, but she had never found out the reason why they weren’t working together as royal knights. She had asked Flynn about it before, but the knight always had an excuse not to speak about it at all.

“Are you going to stand there?” Yuri’s question snapped the princess from her thoughts. “We’re still not in the safe area after getting here, you know. The knights could catch up to us if they actually tried.”

Didn’t he know that she was the princess? She was sure that the knights wouldn’t hunt her down in a threatening manner, but they would definitely try and capture Yuri and his dog. She didn’t really have a reason to follow him, other than leaving the castle to enjoy the freedom she never had as a young girl. Would he mind having a stranger like her around for a little longer?

“Can I… come with you?” Estellise asked hesitantly. “Flynn told me that even if you are often in trouble with the knights, he told me that you’re not a bad person. I-I believe I can trust you enough to take care of me for a little longer.”

Yuri let Repede walk ahead of him as he stopped, looking at the princess with a raised brow, “Now that’s a new thing to hear about him… I’m surprised that Flynn managed to have a friend in the castle when he’s so damn obsessed with his work.”

“He is busy during most days, but he often takes rest and has some tea with me,” she responded with a nod and a smile. She knew what she wanted to do, but she was afraid of being turned down that she shyly tried asking once more, “So… can I?”

Estellise stood silently while avoiding his eyes, expecting him to leave her behind as she thought that she was just going to get in the way of his life. She didn’t move until she felt something pulling her dress and looked down to see Yuri crouching in front of her with his unsheathed sword. She thought that he was planning on doing something inappropriate to her so that she was ready to kick him in the face, until she heard the sound of fabric being torn.

Yuri stood up in front of her, holding on to a piece of fabric with the same color as the dress she knew she was wearing. She watched him as he threw the fabric casually and started walking away, “There. Your clothes will attract too much attention, so I had to do what I had to do.”

She looked down at her dress, which had become a lot shorter to the point that she could feel the wind on her feet. Her lower legs were more exposed than she had always been used to and she had been turned like it without her permission.

“ _He can be blunt and bold, but he means it in a good way for most of the time.”_

She recalled Flynn’s comment about his actions, though she was still a little embarrassed to wear a dress shorter than what she was used to in public. She had no choice but to go with her current situation as she couldn’t go back to her room to get changed. Or at least, she couldn’t go without causing an uproar within the knights and the castle residents.

* * *

She looked around the area she and Yuri passed by, feeling stares all around as they walked. She wasn’t sure if it was from her newly modified dress or how she was dressed in general, but she was certain that the attention was all on her. She kept herself closer to Yuri, hoping that she wasn’t going to be attacked or something, following him and Repede to a deeper part of the area he referred to as the lower quarter.

The area was far better and peaceful compared to how she was told by the castle residents and her tutors. Flynn mentioned that sometimes there would be riots and anything alike, but the people looked like they were easy enough to be asked for a peaceful discussion. She believed that they were telling bad things about the area to keep her safe, but the liveliness there was far better than spending time alone in her quiet bedroom.

Estellise stopped just in time to prevent herself from crashing onto Yuri as he stopped in front of her as well. They had stopped in front of an old wooden building with a blank plate above the door, which looked like it was either covering something underneath it. It was a building located deep within the maze of alleys in the lower quarter they had just gone through.

“Hey, just come on in. No one in here is going to hurt anyone,” she turned to Yuri, looking at him as she realized that he must have sensed her anxiety. “I don’t know what you’re told about us, but I know that we won’t cause a scene without a good reason.”

She only gave him a silent nod in response and watched his movement as Yuri turned the doorknob. He hadn’t opened the door yet, but he lost his grip on the doorknob and the door slammed open to reveal a few kids running out from inside. She stepped back in surprise, with Yuri looking at the running kids who had just come out.

“Don’t run around too far!” he yelled out. “I’m not in the mood to pick you guys up from whatever trouble you got yourselves into.”

“Oh, come on Yuri!” one of the kids pleaded. “You run around all the time and the knights are always looking for you!”

“Don’t worry! We’ll run back here before any of those knight clowns can get us!” the other kid added before they both run through the alleys.

Seeing how the kids refused to listen to him, Yuri let out a sigh before he let out a small chuckle. He entered the building without another word, leaving the door open for the princess to enter. The short event just now had got her even more curious about how he was as a person and the life he had, which led her into the building as well.

The moment she entered the building, she expected to find peace in the room. Her expectations soon shattered when her ears caught the yelling of a girl about her age as she was scolding the sleepy old man on the table across her. Various metal pieces were strewn all over the table with the girl tinkering a small gadget in her hand as she was yelling angrily.

“I already told you, old man, keep your dirty hands off my room heater!” the girl, who had brown hair, glared at the old man in front of her before slamming a foreign metal object onto the table, surprising him. She glared at the surprised and terrified old man as she searched for the next machine part she needed for the strange machine in her hands.

“Now, now, my dear Rita…” the old man responded in a much calmer tone, though his terrified eyes gave his emotions away. “Aren’t ya bein’ a lil rude ta yer elders?”

The argument came into a stop when Yuri stepped closer towards the table, getting the two’s attention. The old man had a smirk as his gaze fell on the princess, while the brunette looked annoyed and glared at Yuri, “Another one? Don’t we have enough kids to take care of already?”

“We have kids in the guild like you and Karol, you know,” Yuri responded flatly, which sparked more annoyance in her, but he ignored her as he walked over to the kitchen area and started rummaging through the cabinets. “Hey, do you guys have any food left? I’m starving.”

His question was met with silence, which made him turn back to them in response. Rita was back to the broken heater in her hands, leaving the old man to respond, “Nope. Da lil ones ate all of ‘em. Our dear Judith will bring back some of her hunt after da job, so ya can chill and relax.”

“You took the last apple from our stock, Raven,” another voice came as a door leading to the meeting room opened and a younger boy came into the room. “I had to give those kids my own share so that they wouldn’t cry.”

The old man looked a little shocked and panicked as he tried coming up with excuses. The princess was watching through the entire argument, which grew between two people until everyone other than her and Repede was involved. While she could tell that it was like a heated argument, it was the kind of argument she preferred over political arguments she would hear on days she was allowed out of her room.

But if an argument could be avoided altogether, she would prefer that kind of situation far better.

“U-Um…!” Estellise’s voice had stopped the argument, just in time before Rita threw one of the metal parts at the old man. She realized that all eyes in the room were all on her as they expected her to continue, “W-Would you all please stop fighting?”

The room went silent as the argument stopped as she wanted, but the silence felt awkward to her. She assumed that it was because she was the stranger in the small house who had been involved in their internal affairs.

She quickly bowed down to them as she also noticed that she hadn’t properly introduced herself yet, “My… my name is Estellise…” She took a peek at the people in the room with thought that she shouldn’t have revealed her family name, especially with the bad blood between the people of lower quarter with the royal family which she had started noticing as she traveled to the house with Yuri. “I-I mean… my name is…”

“Estelle,” her gaze went over to Yuri, who seemed to have known what she was thinking. “Her name is Estelle and she’s Flynn’s girlfriend.”

That was most surely not how she introduced herself to him. She had viewed him as an intruder before she found out about who he was, but she had never mentioned that Flynn was more than a friend. Even if he was, she didn’t think about revealing it to the person she had just met even if she knew his knight friend.

She wanted to deny it immediately, but Yuri had completely ignored her and approached the boy who had just come out from the other room, “Karol, can you take care of her for a bit? I’m going out to get something for us to eat.”

“O-Okay…”

Repede followed his human friend as he left the building once more, leaving the princess on her own with the new people she had just met. Even if their first meeting ended up with her seeing them in an argument, like Yuri, she didn’t think that they were bad people at all. Perhaps she should try to relax and get along with them while she was there, mostly to get herself used to handling new people.

* * *

She had only been in the house for not more than an hour, but she felt that the atmosphere was far more comfortable compared to the castle. The only family member she had left would be a cousin whom she rarely saw on regular days as she wasn’t allowed to get out of her room. In the new house, she felt the warmth of a family, even if they looked like they could argue all day. It was the kind of argument that was more on the caring side rather than the hostile side. In a way, perhaps she could say that it was just a friendly bickering within siblings, just like how she read it in a few books.

Estelle had changed into a more casual white and pink dress she was given. She looked around the meeting room she had ended up in, seeing various job posters on the walls. A desk was in the corner of the room, where the boy from before was sitting as he was carving a wooden statue. The house was a combination of an orphanage run by a guild, the organization which was banned by the kingdom out of fear of a revolt.

The longer she spent her time there, the more she questioned the words of the castle residents and the king himself. She had been taught that outsiders in the lower quarter were criminals who would overthrow the kingdom for their selfish desires. Those said outsiders banded together in guilds in order to destroy the monarchy which had been established for centuries. When she saw the people of the lower quarter and the guild, she could see that they were good people. Their eyes were at least different from those of the people she knew in the castle.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a glass of water and a plate of fruits being put in front of her. She looked up to see who had been generous enough to serve her some food, seeing the brunette girl from before. Their eyes met and she gave the younger girl a smile, which had made the brunette look embarrassed and caused her to look away.

“Thank you, Rita,” Estelle took a sip of the plain water she was given as her gaze followed Rita, who took a seat right in front of her. “But shouldn’t someone your age–”

The brunette put a hand up in front of her, stopping the princess from talking, before she pulled out a pocket-sized gadget from her pocket and slid her goggles down, “Can’t talk. I’m busy.”

“O-Oh…” Estelle gave up her intention of starting a conversation with the girl in front of her, seeing as she was giving the gadget in her hands her undivided attention.

Her voice had apparently caught the boy’s attention as he went over to the meeting table to join the girls. He put the statue he was working on to the side to face the princess, looking at her politely in response to the short conversation.

“Sorry we don’t have much to offer here. We don’t usually have guests here other than Flynn or any potential adoptive parents,” he told her apologetically.

Estelle shook her head and smiled, “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

She looked around the area once more, noticing that the building had old wooden walls with furniture she had only seen coming from antique dealers. The view was far different compared to the grand castle walls and the meeting room combined with the dining room were smaller to her own bedroom. It made her feel bad knowing how she had lived with everything prepared for her, but the people in the lower quarter could barely afford a decent place they could call a home.

She had heard a little about their background stories, giving her the idea about their situation with the guild. She had been told that guilds were illegal because of their bad influence, but all she could see in a guild after seeing the members of one was a group of people working together for a living. They were just trying to live their lives, but she couldn’t understand why the kingdom banned them.

She couldn’t understand what made guild members and outsiders so different to the royal family. They were all people who were trying their best to live and even if they were different, it didn’t make them less human.

“Oh, do we have a guest today?”

Estelle turned to the door leading to the dining room when she heard it open, revealing a young woman with blue hair tied into a bun. She watched as the woman walked over to the table while carrying a big white bag over her shoulder. She almost jumped in surprise as the woman put the bag on the table with a loud thud, but the woman didn’t look like she was tired of carrying it around.

“Yuri told me a little about you,” she continued as she dug through the bag she had put down. “I was a little worried to hear that we have a young woman as a guest, but perhaps it’s fine if it’s Flynn who you are interested in.”

She had hoped that the misunderstanding was over after she cleared it up moments ago, but it looked like Yuri was still trying to mess around with her. She looked up as she was about to deny it, only to be surprised and terrified by the amount of blood on the woman’s hand when she took out a big slice of fresh meat from the bag.

“J-Judith!” the boy stood up with an excited look. “Did our client reward us this much?!”

The smile on his face slowly turned into a horrified look as she gave him her response casually, “Oh, I just hunted these down on my way back because they happened to be around the area. You don’t mind the extra meat for a while, do you Karol?”

Karol gave her a slow nod as he watched her taking out the slices of meat and put them on the table. Blood had stained the wooden table, which made the princess look sick on the sight of the red liquid in a big amount. The other girl by the table took a quick glance at the bloody mess in front of her, but she didn’t look bothered and continued tinkering with her gadget.

“You don’t look worried at all about her, you know,” Rita spoke up in a sarcastic tone, referring to Judith’s previous comment. “N-Not that I care anyway.”

The woman looked at her with a smirk, but Rita tried avoiding eye contact by focusing on her gadget. She continued emptying the contents of her bag casually, though she was aware of the disgusted look coming from Estelle. She took a few glances at her while she was doing it before taking off her blood-stained white gloves she was wearing when she was finished.

Estelle could only look at Karol as he took the meat out to the dining area, wondering how the people could stand looking at so much blood without any problems. She tried her best not to faint as being a burden was the last thing she wanted to do in a building which didn’t belong to her or her family.

“Are you coming?” she asked, earning herself a stare from the princess. “I’m Judith by the way and if Iʼm not out hunting, I usually take care of the cooking for everyone here.”

Estelle didn’t realize that she had been staring for a while and almost jumped in surprise when she noticed it, “O-Oh! Y-Yes I will and… it’s nice to meet you too, Judith…”

“Time to get to work, shall we? It’s almost time for dinner and the children should be coming back soon,” Judith walked away towards the door Karol had gone through, but not with the princess watching her every move.

She had been so used to long dresses and full body armors that it made her a little uneasy to see someone who wore something which revealed too much skin. At least that was what she had in mind when she first saw Judith, but she wasn’t fully conscious with where her eyes were as she watched the woman walking.

Estelle quickly shook her head when she realized where she had been looking and turned to the one girl being left behind, “Are you going to lend us a hand too, Rita?”

Rita only looked up at her for a moment before turning her attention towards the now dismantled gadget, “I don’t like cooking. It takes too much time to prepare and clean up, especially when I have more things to take care of.”

She stood still for a moment, but only until Rita felt that her presence in the room was a bother to the point she glared at her. She didn’t bother arguing and left the room, feeling a little upset to know how a girl about her age was very different in terms of personality. She wanted to warm up to her somehow as she felt that Rita was a kind person, even if she could be a bit blunt.

* * *

She did volunteer to help around the kitchen, but she found herself only acting as a spectator. She hadn’t learned how to cook herself more than what she read in cookbooks, but not in actual practice. Her flopping in a task as simple as cutting ingredients made Judith tell her to help setting the table instead.

It wasn’t too troubling for her even if she had to set the table for people than she had seen so far. She vaguely recalled that the guild took in a few kids, judging from their reaction when Yuri brought her in. There was that and Judith herself mentioned something similar as well a few minutes ago.

Estelle scanned the room once she was finished with the table. The old man they called Raven was snoring on the edge of the table. Yuri was also present in the room, cleaning his sword with Repede curling by his feet. Karol and Judith were still cooking in the kitchen, but from the smell of the food, it was most likely that they were almost done.

Her gaze fell on the extra door on the left wall of the room. She gasped in surprise when she heard a loud thud on the other side of the door. She kept on watching the door until it opened to reveal a couple of girls, one of whom was carrying an old teddy bear.

“Miss Judith, I’m hungry…” the girl with the doll said weakly as she approached the woman in the kitchen area. “Is dinner ready yet?”

Judith flashed a smile as she took a quick glance at the girl, “Just a little longer, okay? Karol and I are almost done with the soup.”

The girl only nodded in disappointment before heading towards the table as she clutched onto the doll she was carrying. The other girl crouched down and picked up some white objects the doll had dropped as her friend headed for the table before she followed her. She shoved the white soft objects, which looked like cotton upon Estelle’s closer look, to her friend’s face.

Estelle didn’t think twice the moment the girl realized about her torn doll and sat right next to her, “I can sew your doll for you!”

The girl looked a little frightened when the princess suddenly came to her side. She was on the verge of crying, both from the fright and her torn doll, which made Estelle’s heart sink.

“I-I’m sorry…” the princess responded guilty before she searched through her dress for a small sewing kit. She could see that the girls were watching as she put the kit on the table, “I-If you don’t want to, it’s fine too…”

“Why do you even have one of those with you anyway?” Yuri was the one to ask as he looked up from his sword.

She looked at her sewing kit and thought that it was a normal thing to have around in case her clothes got torn before crucial events. She was about to answer him with that thought in mind, until the torn doll was put right next to her sewing kit. The princess looked at the girls from before, who were both still frightened from her sudden proposal, but looked like they had trusted her enough to fix it.

More kids had started gathering in the dining room for their dinner, with Estelle spending most of her time trying to fix the torn doll for the girl. The quiet room slowly started being noisy as the kids were eating and talking while wondering about the extra person they had never met before. It didn’t take long for her to get to know the kids better that she was being dragged away to the orphanage section of the building after dinner.

Judith was watching with a smile as she saw Estelle being taken by the excited kids while she was cleaning up the kitchen area. Yuri soon joined her, only to pile more dirty dishes into the sink before leaving her to work on her own.

“Aren’t you going to help out just a little?” she asked with a playful pout. “My hands are getting sore from swinging my spear around all day.”

The young man let out a chuckle as he took a seat back by the dining table, “Yeah, right. If it’s not because of dinner time, you’re probably going to keep hunting until sunrise tomorrow.”

“I’m still a delicate young maiden, Yuri,” Judith continued with a teasing tone. “Or are you just hoping to send me away for that new young woman?”

Yuri let out a sigh before leaning on the chair, slightly swinging it with his feet, “You know that someone too well-dressed like her isn’t my type. Besides, I don’t think she should be staying out until tomorrow.”

The young woman looked over to the door leading to the orphanage area, where she could hear faint sounds of laughter from the other side. It was the kind of laughter she didn’t usually hear unless they had new toys to play with or new members to the family.

“I think she’s here to stay with us for a while,” Judith’s statement made Yuri stop rocking his chair to look at her in surprise. “She doesn’t look like she wants to go home soon and I think we still have a spare bedroom in the guild.”

Yuri let out another sigh as he rose from his seat, knowing what she was trying to make him do, “Fine… I’ll clean up the room…”

She watched him from the corner of her eye as he was heading for the door, but called out to him before he left the room, “I guess you don’t mind taking a few risks with her being here? From the way she is dressed, I don’t think she’s from the lower quarter.”

“She isn’t,” His response was short before he left through the door, leaving Judith on her own in the kitchen.

She turned her attention to the dirty dishes in the sink in front of her once more, with one thing in her mind about the new person’s identity, “She’s a princess, isn’t she?”

Judith knew that she was only talking to herself as she was the only person left in the dining room. She took a moment to look back at the empty dining table, realizing that she hadn’t seen the old man leaving after dinner. She guessed that he left around the time when the kids were gathering around Estelle, but he had never said anything when he left.

The old man leaving suddenly wasn’t something unusual, but what felt strange to her was how he left without a word at all.

* * *

Flynn was rushing through the hallways of the castle, with a few of his trustworthy knights following him. He stopped in front of two gigantic doors guarded by a couple of spearmen, who then uncrossed their spears before opening the door for him. The knight gave them a silent bow as a form of gratitude before looking into the room.

A gray-haired man was sitting in the throne, motioning for the knight to come into the room and towards him.

Flynn looked back to his knight companions, but they had already known what he was going to ask them. They gave him a salute before leaving, letting the knight to enter the room on his own. He stopped at the foot of the throne to kneel down in respect to the man above him.

“Your Majesty,” he began with his head low. “I’m afraid I cannot find a single trace of Princess Estellise’s whereabouts nor a single clue of her kidnapper. I shall assign my team to investigate the area around the castle–”

“There is no need,” Flynn looked up in surprise. “With the tense situation around the border between the natives and the outsiders, the people won’t notice if an insignificant princess is missing from the castle. There are far urgent matters to take care of at this time as the next wave of rioters are coming in a few days.”

The knight didn’t respond to the order as he was still in disbelief that the king would ignore even the princess. Even if she wasn’t the king or his predecessor’s direct descendant, she was still a princess and a part of the royal family. Moreover, she was a close friend of his and he didn’t want anything bad to happen to his friend when there was something he could do to help her.

His dissatisfied expression was made apparent, which brought annoyance to the king’s face as he looked down at the knight.

“Is that clear, Captain Scifo?” the king’s stern voice echoed in the gigantic room. “We cannot afford to lose even the slightest of resources to blindly look for a disobedient little princess.”

Flynn lowered his head, reluctantly nodding in response, before looking up and saluted, “Yes, Your Majesty. This is for the glory of King Alexei!”

The knight kept his saluting position even as the king himself had allowed him to rest his hand. His hand soon curled into a fist before he let it drop down to his side. He bowed down once more before leaving, though he was still feeling uncomfortable leaving a person in need to obey orders. It wasn’t because the princess was his friend, but more because it was the princess he had sworn to protect.

“Lady Estellise, please wait for me a little longer…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's another chapter done, with Estelle making herself into the guild without issues. The next chapters will feature her life in the guild during her stay as well as her connections with each of the guild members.
> 
> Next chapter will come hopefully soon, so stay tuned! And please leave a review to let me know what you guys think of the story so far!

**Author's Note:**

> More chapters to come later on, hopefully in a quick pace as I only need to do checking and some editing instead of starting each chapter from scratch. Stay tuned!


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